President Calls for Assault-Weapon Ban, Stronger Background Checks

Wednesday afternoon, President Obama proposed numerous measures in response to a string of recent mass shootings across the country, including one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults were murdered by a gunman.

Obama called for a ban on assault weapons, like the one used in Newtown, and high-capacity magazines, also used in Newtown, as well as more extensive background checks for all gun buyers, among other things. In total, his plan includes four legislative proposals and 23 executive orders, which he can implement without approval from Congress. (Full list below.)

The White House event was the culmination of a monthlong process initiated after the Newtown killings, led mostly by Vice President Biden. Relatives of the 20 children who died at Sandy Hook stood by as Obama signed the executive orders. “This is our first task as a society,” Obama said. “Keeping our children safe. This is how we will be judged. And their voices should compel us to change.”

The Senate is expected to take up the legislative proposals later this month. Those include reinstating the ban on military-style assault weapons and a new ban on armor-piercing bullets.

The president announced that he would nominate B. Todd Jones, the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to become its permanent chief. The agency has been without a full-time director for six years.

Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.

Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.

Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.

Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.

Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.

Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.

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